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<p><SPAN class="panel-title"> Editors, Agents and other Endangered Species -- BaycCon 2012 </SPAN> <SPAN class="dateline"> 26.05.2012 17.30h </SPAN></p>
<ul class="taglist">
<li class="tags">
Editors
</li>
<li class="tags">
Agents
</li>
<li class="tags">
Publishing
</li>
<li class="tags">
Business
</li>
</ul>

<BR/>
<DIV class="intro">
Amazon, with its in-house eBook self-publishing and print-on-demand books, along with their own publishing deals for selected authors, is looking to completely supplant publishers, their editors, and the agents they work with. Will this be successful? Will it work? What dangers lurk behind the untrammeled masses of would-be writers?
</DIV>

<DIV class="panelists">
<ul>
<li>Dario Ciriello</li>
<li>Marty Halpern</li>
<li>Jaym Gates</li>
<li>Tony N. Todaro</li>
<li>Jay Hartlove
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</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="resources">Resources</h3>
<DIV class='bibliography'>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.wcwriters.com/html/mainmenu.html">West Coast Writers' Conferences</a></li>
<li><a href="http://kriswrites.com/freelancers-survival-guide-table-of-contents/business-rusch-table-of-contents/">The Business Rusch</a>
</DIV>
</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="notes">Notes</h3>
<div class="notes">

<p>Are editors and agents in fact, endangered? Why? Some are not adjusting to change.</p>
<p>Bookstores are going out of business, and print is threatened.</p>
<p>San Jose Mercury News got rid of editors, and now there is not quality control. But there is also no time for the editoral process.</p>
<p>50% of self-published authors earn under $500/year from their writing.</p>
<p>A lot will be missed in the publishing process on self publishing -- even the pros do it.</p>
<p>Each role brings its own value, so editors won't vanish.</p>
<p>The question is the quality of the manuscript, don't send anything out that isn't as ready as possible.</p>
<p>With the flood of new writers self-publishing, there is an even greater need for editors.</p>
<p>Especially new self-published authors, there's a need for help with the prose if not the story elements.</p>
<p>There is a lot of complexity. Amazon risks nothing -- publishers put out lots of garbage -- they have huge quality issues.</p>
<p>From the writer's point of view, it is a cost issue.</p>
<p>How do editors survive when many try to cut out the middlemen?</p>
<ul>
<li>Acquistions editor: acquires the manuscript.</li>
<li>Content Editor: deconstructs the manuscript, including story-level stuff</li>
<li>Copy editor: does low-level editing (e.g., grammar and punctuation)</li>
<li>Anthology editor: collects the stories together, and may do other editor roles.</li>
</ul>
<p>There are of course both good and bad editors and agents.</p>
<p>Small presses need the writer to do his or her own marketing and publicity.</p>
<p>A submissions editor must be the advocate of the work at a publishing house.</p>
<p>The writer must do due diligence in hiring the editor, or submitting to the editor.</p>
<p>The &quot;Abundance Model&quot; -- Rusch</p>
<p>How do editors now be sure they get work?</p>
<p>Getting a novel edited (100k words) by a good editor will run c. $1000, which can make a big difference, and can be made back.</p>
<p>Although self-published must do their own publicity, even the big six don't do it like they used to.</p>
<p>There's a rise of writers' coops/publishing coops, but they are closed groups (e.g., Bookview Cafe)</p>
<p>Some writers look at self-publishing as a way into major publishing houses.</p>
<p>Micropesses -- a few titles a year, many pay nothing up front and only pay in royalties for copies sold.</p>
<p>The market itself has become the gatekeeper.</p>
<p>Reviewers have become priceless, a major part in the industry. Writer needs more reviewers, but only quality reviews.</p>
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